The Grand Old Game

Lee Traded To Phillies

Well, if there had been any doubt before as to whether or not the Phillies could put their division away, that doubt was quickly erased with the acquisition of Cy Young winner Cliff Lee from the Cleveland Indians. Arriving in Philadelphia with outfielder Ben Francisco, Lee was the centerpiece of a trade which landed four of the Phillies’ top prospects in Cleveland, pitcher Carlos Carrasco, IF Jason Donald, C Lou Marson and Single-A pitcher Jason Knapp. While Philly would not pull the trigger when the Indians initially asked that top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek be included in the package, the inclusion instead of Carrasco made both sides more agreeable. Francisco will be added insurance in the event that RF Raul Ibanez goes down with an injury, again.

My Take: Philly initially went after Halladay, but the Jays insisted that Drabek be included in any deal for the Toronto ace, something The Phils were unwilling to do. Carrasco was developing a rep for being easily rattled and somewhat of a prima donna-in-training, but Drabek has had issues of his own, as he at one point was drinking heavily and having significant issues with anger management. Those problems are behind him, now, and he is regarded as being nearly ML-ready, stuff-wise. But either way you look at it, Cleveland will have the better end of the trade if the prospects they received come close to living up to their advanced billing, Lee or no Lee.

Bucs’ Wilson, Snell Traded to Mariners

The Pittsburgh fire sale continues. Everything must go! We’re slashing prices!
Well, not exactly, this time.
The Bucs sent veteran IF Jack Wilson and struggling former prospect Ian Snell to the Mariners for C power prospect Jeff Clement and SS Ronny Cedeno. This is Cedeno’s second trade on the year (Cubs to Mariners, Mariners to Pirates). Seattle also included two other minor leaguers in the deal.

My Take: A financial move for the Pirates, to be sure. To me, Clement is the real prize in this trade. There aren’t too many young catching prospects coming down the pipe in recent years with the light-tower power that this former first-rounder has, and if he pans out for Pitt, he could end up being one of several bats around which this perpetual basement dweller of a team can build. He should get his chance very soon. However, the Mariners get an established, versatile fielder and solid bat in Wilson, and a young arm on the upswing in Snell, so both teams actually made out pretty well, here.